Having The Tim Of His Life

Hard though it is to believe, The Charlatans celebrate 20 years on the road this year. The Madchester outfit first hit the UK top 10 with baggy single ‘The Only One I Know’ in May 1990. Debut album Some Friendly was released the following October. They mark this auspicious anniversary with the upcoming Some Friendly tour, for which they will perform the album in its entirety, while a 2CD Remastered Deluxe Edition will be released May 17. It will include the original album as well as a disc of outtakes, Peel Sessions, and B-sides including their indie-debut ‘Indian Rope’.

Over that time, charismatic frontman Tim Burgess has expanded his artistic horizons to include production work with up and coming bands, DJ-ing regularly and moonlighting in at least one super-group (a project with Carl Barat).
More recently, he’s been involved with Ireland’s longest running competition for unsigned bands, Jack Daniel’s The JD Set, offering support and advice to unsigned bands. Of course, The Charlatans remain his main focus: their heady blend of indie, psychedelia and acid-house has proved nothing if not resilient in the face of changing tastes.
“I don’t think we’ve ever sold-out musically and I’m proud of that,” he reflects, on the phone from New York, where he is working on new Charlatans’ material. “When we first came out we didn’t have a clue really. We knew the genre we wanted to be involved with and that we wanted lots of reverb on the vocals.”
His musical tastes were formed early and were, he says, typical of someone growing up in the mid-to-late 1970s.
“I was a child punk and The Buzzcocks were my favorites from the post-punk era. My music tastes changed because of New Order, specifically the album Power, Corruption & Lies. A few years before that, I would have been into the Bay City Rollers and Slade.”
Despite their trademark swirling sound, still intact, Burgess says The Charlatans’ approach in the studio has changed over the years.
“We’re a continuously evolving band and sometimes you write music that is the opposite of what people expect. Sometimes you go in and think ‘this is not a rehearsal-type song – it’s more of a build up of layers and textures’. Other times you want it raw and stripped-down and instant, so you rehearse it like crazy – that’s normally the way we do it. There’s been certain records where we’ve gone into the studio with nothing and you just get inspired.
“This new album is all about rehearsal. The last album [You Cross My Path] was the opposite. We recorded it entirely on computer. This time around we’re going for a more authentic sound. There are techniques we use when it comes to mic-ing vocals – from a distance or very close or a combination of both. It can be trial and error. We’re using analog on certain things. We recorded some strings and some trumpet and that was all through an analog desk.”
One of the highlights for The Charlatans in recent years was touring as special guests of the Rolling Stones. Burgess explains how it came about.
He says: “We befriended Ronnie Wood and he fell in love with the band. He came out with us three or four times and he did a TV show with us. Then we were asked to do some dates with them on their last tour so we did Slane Castle, Twickenham and Glasgow. It’s a different world being on tour with them but I don’t think it really affected me. What can I say? They’re the blueprint for what we all do. I loved The Faces with Ronnie Wood and I loved the Stones with Brian Jones. I love Mick and Keith’s songwriting. There’s a song on our new album that reminded me of ‘19th Nervous Breakdown’."
Burgess has occasionally been part of a band called The Chavs, an indie supergroup of sorts featuring members of The Libertines, Razorlight and Primal Scream.
“We’ve been described as an indie Traveling Wilburys,” he laughs. “It all started when I was on tour hanging out with The Libertines on the West Coast of the US and I got a text from a friend of mine, Dean, who runs gigs in a pub in Chatham Kent, asking would I do a solo gig. I said yes but I was a tad nervous and I asked Carl from the Libertines, Andy from Razorlight and Mark from Primal Scream to help out. We didn’t rehearse apart from a quick run through in a café upstairs, with a Fender Rhodes and a bass drum. We got a TV show, one gig in a pub show and there were crazy rumors about doing the Carnegie Hall.”
Meanwhile, Burgess also used his two decades of studio experience to help up-and-coming bands such as Hatcham Social, Electricity In Our Home and a Bird In The Air Pump, an all-girl London band he describes as being a little bit like Siouxsie Sioux.
“I love it,” he says. “For a start, I like to know what other people are doing; I guess I want be part of the future. I’ve taken little bits of knowledge I’ve learned over the years. My friend James Spencer who recorded The Charlatans is a great engineer, a pro-tools guy and he does most of the technical stuff. We do it the Steve Albini way where you put as many mics in the room as you can and I suggest musical ideas.”
As for his DJing exploits Burgess says it’s just something he has to do. “I’m a vinyl addict so I have to go out and DJ, to satisfy my needs. It’s brilliant. The music I play builds a picture of the new record and helps shape it. Obviously I play a few classics all the time such as New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’ and ‘I Feel Love’ by Donna Summer and maybe a classic northern soul track or a post punk track from 1981. I have a Technics turntable set up at home. On the road I don’t really care what I’m using and I don’t bring my own needles or anything – it’s all about the music
He has also been generous with his advice to bands he encounters as a JD Set Icon. “It’s great that they’re giving a hand-up to unsigned bands especially with major labels almost disappearing,” he says. “I always tell bands: it’s about trying to stick to your own path. But I think it’s OK to start off emulating your heroes. It’s not a crime and you can pick up great things from all around you.”